ICE Canada Review: Canola dragged down by CDN currency

Winnipeg, March 6 (CNS Canada) – The ICE Futures Canada canola finished lower on Tuesday, weighed down by a stronger Canadian dollar.

Increased farmer selling dragged on prices and export activity has been on the slow side.

Weakness in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans added to the bearishness.

However, gains in CBOT soyoil were supportive for prices.

Concerns over a lack of moisture in Western Canada lent some support to the market.

Around 14,505 canola contracts were traded on Tuesday, which compares with Monday when around 19,169 contracts changed hands. Spreading accounted for 5,668 of the contracts traded.

Settlement prices are in Canadian dollars per metric tonne.

The soybean market finished lower on Wednesday in technical selling.

Conditions are drying down in Brazilian soybean fields, which should enable more harvesting to get done.

Some traders have started taking positions ahead of Thursday’s USDA supply and demand report.

Corn futures ended roughly one cent higher in follow-through buying.

The most-active May contract took technical support at the US$3.85 level.

USDA weekly export inspections were significantly lower than last week.

Chicago wheat futures suffered mild losses in choppy trading.

A new report by Australia’s agriculture department has raised estimates for this year’s wheat crop. The new forecast calls for the crop to hit 23.7 million tonnes, which is up from the previous estimate of 21.2 million tonnes.

Russian grain exports through the last week of February were up 41 per cent from the previous year.